Toohey needed just over a minute to make her dream come true

Sixteen-year-old Sienna Toohey, a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship athlete, finished Day two of the Australian Trials in tears . . . but she shed tears of triumph.

Toohey, from Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, was emotional after sealing her place in the Dolphins squad that will compete at next month’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore after winning the women’s 100m breaststroke event from lane six.

Her stunning performances during April’s National Age Championships – she won four gold medals and set two Australian age records – had Toohey earmarked as a potential bolter for the World Championships in Singapore. With the spotlight on her in Adelaide the talented teenager proved she possessed both the skill and will that’s needed to represent Australia.

Toohey who started swimming because she wanted to play water polo, finished first in a blistering 1:06.55. She also sliced almost half a second off her personal best in the process as she finished ahead of Paris Olympics silver medallist Ella Ramsay (1:06.86) with Sienna Harben third (1:07.02).

The emerging star, whose preparation routine is tightly structured: compression boots, home-cooked meals from mum, and plenty of TV, including Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, admitted missing selection for last year’s Olympic team had made her even more determined to swim against the world’s best in Singapore

“I’m definitely very, very happy with myself,” said a triumphant but tearful Toohey, who is coached by 71-year-old Wayne Gould.

“Missing out on the Olympic team last year … was definitely something that I really wanted to be a part of, just watching it, and Ella, obviously being on it, all of these people being my idols. Now I get to be on the team. So, I’m very happy.”

 “I really wanted to make the national team, and I knew that if I didn’t make it in the 100m, I always had the 50m tomorrow. But I’m definitely happy that I’ve done it now.”

Toohey revealed the impact Leisel Jones, whose swag of nine Olympic medals included three gold, had on her after she broke Jones’s 23-year-old national age record.

“I first met her (Jones) last year at the Olympic trials on the final night,’ she said. “And then after nationals this year, she sent me a video the night after I broke her 100m (breaststroke) record, just congratulating me.”

“It honestly made my week. It meant a lot. Just getting something personalised from her and her just reaching out and telling me to keep going and that things can happen when you’re at a young age, it’s definitely inspiring.”

“I’ve been doing very hard training more than what I’ve ever done before. So I’m very happy that it’s paid off with a PB.

While Toohey originally had a dream to play water polo at the highest level, she said watching her brother’s progress as a swimmer made her reconsider her sporting ambition.

“I started swimming because I wanted to play water polo, but my parents told me that I couldn’t do water polo if I didn’t swim,” she said.

“So, I started swimming for that reason, and then my brother started to get really good at it when I’d watch him at State championships. And then I was like, hang on, this might be something that I want to do.

“I got to the point where I had to choose between swimming and water polo. Obviously, I chose swimming and it was the right choice.”

Toohey has a stacked international schedule. Besides earning selection in the Dolphin’s World Aquatics team, she was also picked for the Junior Dolphins who’ll compete Romania from the 19th – 24th August.

Daniel Lane, NSWIS

Photos: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia